New life for zombie houses: Essex County Land Bank fully up and running

Organization grows from single condemned property to seven homes, launches $75,000 rental assistance program and debuts mural festival

By Brenne Sheehan

In October 2023, Nicole Justice Green, executive director of PRIDE of Ticonderoga, gave Adirondack Explorer a tour of the newly formed Essex County Land Bank’s first “zombie house” in Jay.  

The house was blighted, condemned and filled with trash. As part of the work, land bank employees encountered foundation and septic problems they had to remediate with the help of local contractors. Two years and $300,000 later, the house is now home to a young family of three.

“[The family] looked for a home in the area for a very long time, and had pretty much given up thinking that they’d be able to stay and live in Jay,” Green said. “So, it’s really cool to work with them from open house to closing.” 

And the land bank didn’t stop there. This year, they plan to put four new properties back on the market, and have grown to develop new programs for public art and property owners— all with the hope of bringing more affordable housing back to Essex, Washington and Warren counties using pre-existing homes and new home builds. 

RELATED READING: A rural approach to affordable housing

“A better mix of housing options is more sustainable for our communities,” Green said. “We want people who are single, moving to this community to put down roots to have options to grow — and right now we don’t have that.”

Green attributes the organization’s successes to a strong work team, with combined commitment and determination to fulfilling their mission across both the land bank and their other organization, the North Country Rural Development Coalition. 

Revitalizing new properties

The house in Jay was sold in 2024 to the Pruitt family, who purchased the three-bedroom house for just $150,000 — a value half the amount of Jay’s median home listing price. A property that was once an eyesore is now another valuable establishment generating tax revenue for the community, Green said. 

The house, like all of the land bank’s properties, will now see permanent deed restrictions for future buyers. All buyers will have to make 200% of the area median income.

While there are already existing programs for homebuyers making under 80% of the AMI, Green says the land bank wants to target middle-income buyers who also suffer the rising cost of living. 

“There’s this gap with asset-limited, income-constrained and employed people, which is a lot of us fitting in the 80 to 120% AMI range,” Green said. 

The land bank now owns seven properties — two empty lots and five foreclosed or condemned properties donated to the land bank by banks and local governments. Three of its houses will go on the market in August, and one more to be ready in the fall. 

To prevent new homeowners from entering foreclosure, the land bank has a special application process to buy one of their houses — sponsoring education for homebuyers alongside their opportunity for affordable housing. 

All applicants for land bank properties must take Department of Housing and Urban Development-certified housing counseling to demonstrate that they’re actually ready to be a homeowner and that no more than 30% of their take-home income would go towards housing costs. 

Rental property assistance 

Last August, the Essex County land bank launched its vacant rental program that provides state-funded assistance up to $75,000 to residential property owners looking to rent their uninhabitable properties again. 

Owners of mixed-use properties — including a storefront and apartments on the upper levels — get priority to help further develop their downtowns, according to land bank’s program manager Nicki Tiriele. 

“Mixed-use buildings are only going to help the economic development of their communities with the storefronts, offices and businesses below,” Tiriele said. “It will create workforce housing, in a sense, making walkable downtown communities.”

After obtaining the award money, landlords must rent to tenants earning 80% of the AMI or less for a $50,000 grant and 60% or less for a $75,000 grant. The land bank also ensures that all recipients are responsible landlords, in good standing with their mortgage, property taxes and utilities.

The move to muralize 

On June 7, the ECLB and the North Country Rural Development Coalition hosted its first-ever “Walls Between Waters” mural festival in downtown Ticonderoga, which featured out-of-town artists from Rochester to Brazil. 

Until the end of June, artists have made progress painting all different types of facades on the town’s buildings. A part of the NCRDC’s public art initiative, the movement for more murals brings more attention and love to blighted but deeply historical properties. 

“Public art is just another tool in that toolbox to kind of help spur redevelopment,” Green said. “Murals draw attention to create a place, make light of stabilization and hopefully encourage community development.” 

Green said funding for the project was originally supposed to come from Ticonderoga’s $10 million 2023 New York Downtown Revitalization Initiative, but was ultimately funded through the state’s land bank program. 

Town of Ticonderoga Supervisor Mark Wright says the NDRDC’s mural festival helped make Ticonderoga’s mural project a “reality.” 

“Public art, through these murals, has the potential to make our community a more vibrant and welcoming place and becomes a piece of our economic recovery and revitalization puzzle,” Wright said. “Each of these murals tells the story of Ticonderoga — a town that is coming back.”

Photo at top: Nicole Justice Green, Executive Director of the Essex County Land Bank and PRIDE of Ticonderoga, in front of the Land Bank’s first project in Jay, NY. Photo by Eric Teed.